Posted on February 15, 2018 under Thursday Tidbits with no comments yet

 

SAFE is having its Annual General Meeting on February 27, 2108… and you’re invited to come.

Our Syrian families have settled in quite nicely in our community but this doesn’t mean the crisis is over in Syria. Not even close. If it is humanly possible, things are worse and there are millions of families desperately seeking refuge.

The work of SAFE, CARE and Tri- Heart, the three sponsorship groups in Antigonish continues. It is not likely to end any time soon.

We need your help. There are two new Syrian families arriving in the very near future. One of the families, we were expecting and we have housing lined up for them. The second family was not supposed to come until late 2018 but SAFE has now been informed that their arrival is imminent.

We need your help… specifically housing.

SAFE needs a three bedroom house, preferably near the town of Antigonish. We all know how hard housing is to find and how expensive it is. The people of Antigonish Town and County have been extremely generous in assisting with housing for the Syrians who have already arrived. They have provided inexpensive rents, in some cases for a two year period to help new families get on their feet.

So. if you know of anyone who might have an unoccupied house and might want to partner with SAFE in providing a home for one of the families coming soon, please get in touch with me or any member of SAFE.

Our new Syrian neighbors and friends have proven that they belong in our midst. They are friendly and incredibly industrious.

Please help our new families make Antigonish their home.

Thanks and hope to see some of you at the AGM.

P.S. It would be appreciated if you would ” share” this with your Facebook contacts. Thanks.

Posted on February 14, 2018 under Storytelling with 4 comments

Happy Valentine’s Day, mom

 

M is for the many things she gave me,

O means that she’s only growing old,

T is for the tears she shed to save me,

H is for her heart of purest gold,

E is for her eyes, with love light shining,

R means right and right she’ll always be,

 Put them all together they spell mother,

A word that means the world to me.

I know. I checked the calendar. It’s Valentine’s Day and not Mother’s Day.

Valentine’s Day is for lovers. But it is so much more. It is a time to applaud the notion of love and nowhere is this more recognizable than the love of a mother.

Many of us are getting up there in years. And many of us have lost one or both parents. I don’t think I would get much argument from my peers that we will never again see a generation of women such as those who raised the baby boomers.

How did they do it?

How did they raise 6, 8, 10, 12 children… and in some cases more? Without the benefit of modern appliances, they toiled from early morning until late at night. They prepared meals, baked their own bread, washed countless loads of wash (including cloth diapers!)by hand before the advent of the ringer washer. They read bedtime stories, helped with homework and bandaged many a bloody knee.

They mended clothing and broken hearts and wiped a lot of bums.

They found time to worship, very often praying the rosary daily and attending mass on Sundays.

And when their children left the nest, many of them spread their wings and went out into the public work force where they demonstrated their remarkable work ethic and prowess as managers. After all, can there be anything more daunting than managing a house filled with enough children to field a baseball team?

Some of our moms have died. Others are still living but have been robbed of their memories and a handful is still carrying on well into their 90’s acting as if they are still teenagers.

Being a mother of young children in 2018 is no less challenging. In many ways, it is more difficult. We honor these women too.

Happy Valentine’s Day to all mothers.

 

Posted on February 12, 2018 under Monday Morning Musings with one comment

It’s definitely ” man cold” season

 

“Sittin’ downtown in a railway station,

One toke over the line.”

One Toke Over The Line. Brewer and Shipley.

ALLERGY ALERT: IF YOU ARE ALLERGIC TO BAD PUNS, YOU MIGHT WANT TO SKIP THIS POST. IT’S LIKE A NOXIOUS WEED.

There was a time not all that long ago, that a 1000 point drop on the Dow Jones Industrial Average would tie up my stomach in knots and result in sleepless nights. I was in the financial business during the technology “dot com” bubble meltdown in 2000 and of course the epic market crash of 2008-09. I can put the blame on my hair loss squarely on the shoulders of the stock market.

These days, I am merely a spectator… mostly.

My brother from Victoria has been visiting this past week and during our early morning get togethers for coffee (usually around 6:30 a.m.); we cover a wide range of topics. The other day, we were comparing aches and pains and the topic of medical marijuana came up. Well, one thing led to another and while we were sipping the last of our java, I bought a handful of stocks in a Canadian marijuana company.

Warren Buffett, arguably one of the most successful investors ever, has always lived by the mantra, “don’t invest in anything you don’t understand.”

I started university in 1970, the very year that the power house band (?), Brewer and Shipley”, wrote the iconic lyrics to “ One Toke Over The Line.” I took those lyrics seriously. The Doobie Brothers became one of my favourite bands. So when I decided to buy shares in a “joint” stock company, I felt comfortable that I had a better than average knowledge of this soon to be legal consumer product.

My newly purchased shares went to pot in early trading but recovered at the end of the day on a high. At one point, when the price dropped 10%, I thought my investment had gone up in smoke.

I think that’s enough groans for today!

“Live From The Beach.”

You asked. I delivered.

My 15 minutes of fame last week with my videos of the flood, prompted many of you (tongue and cheek, of course) to suggest I take up a career in broadcasting. Particularly weather forecasting.  Well known television meteorologist, Cindy Day, retired recently prompting one of my children to dub me “Cindy Dad.”  Where do they get their quirky sense of humour?!

On the weekend, I headed out to Mahoney’s Beach to broadcast the weekend weather. I was tired of filming on the banks of the swollen Brierly Brook. (Those videos, by the way, were viewed over 125,000 times). Now obviously I’m no Frankie MacDonald when it comes to weather prognostications, even though we share the same last name. If you haven’t heard one of Frankie’s famous storm predictions, just Google him. He’s a legend in these parts.

As expected, I received lots of cheeky responses. I’m still puzzled about the comments suggesting a “bobble head doll.”

So, here’s the deal. Starting this Saturday, weather permitting (!); I will be doing a live weather forecast from “Some Beach, Somewhere.” (For you harness racing fans out there).  “Live from the Beach “will be a 60 second video bringing you up to the minute weather forecasts. But wait… there’s more. (This sounds like an old K-Tel commercial.)  If you have an event that you want plugged at the last minute, just send me the info by Friday and I will do my best to include it in my one minute video. No bingo cancellation notices please!

Get high on life.

Have a great week.